It is well known to use a vibration damper in a clutch assembly for a vehicle clutch ahead of a manually-operated transmission or in a torsional coupling between driving and driven shafts. Also, where a lock-up clutch is inserted into a torque converter of an automatic transmission, a vibration damper is necessary in the direct drive mode of the torque converter as the torsional vibrations will not be damped hydraulically.
In our earlier patent applications Ser. No. 801,989 filed May 31, 1977 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,805, and Ser. No. 860,348 filed Dec. 14, 1977, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,806, we disclosed torsional vibration dampers for various types of torsional couplings utilizing floating equalizers journalled on a hub connected to a driven shaft; such as a transmission input shaft. In each application two or more groups of springs operate in parallel with two or three spring sets in each group. In Ser. No. 801,989, the spring sets in each group are separated from each other to prevent rubbing and wear on the ends of the springs by the configuration of the arms of each floating equalizer. In Ser. No. 860,348, the arms of each equalizer provides a spring enclosure housing the ends of two adjacent spring sets and generally V-shaped locking dividers have tabs received in slots in the equalizer arms to retain the dividers therein and separate the springs.